Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-07-05
And turn. with thy splendors. the darkness
to light

And turn. with thy splendors. the darkness
to lightl
The Glee Club next sang with strong
patriotic feryor, The Star-Spangled Ban
lner.
GRAFTON BS EX-GOVERNOR PERKINS.
Mayor Gregory then introduced ex-Gov-
ernor Perkins, as the Orator of the Day.
| Upon coming forward the Ex-Governor
was greeted with Eproarious and long con-
tinued applause, and which, as 1t COM
menced to subside was taken up again,
and repeated with Increased enthusiasm.
Finally the speaker was allowed to proceed.
and the following address which occupied
abouY three-quarters of an hour, was deliv-
cred in highly pleasing, oratoricaI and
effective manner, the speaker being fire.
quently interrupted with loud, and at
| times, long continued applause
FeioaC- Citizens: II is one of the nobiest en-
! dowments OF our nature thai while standing
on this point OF the feoting present, we can
look both ways: By memory and history, we
] may in some degree recall the past, and by
hope and imagination dimly anticipate the
| future. Only. so far as we listen to the words
| and contemplate the actions of the good and
| great who have come on the stage before us,
| look at the world as they saw it. feel the stir
and thrill OF ideas then in the air, shall we be
able to appreciate the heroism of their lives and
| the value of the work they have given us as Il
! heritage.
| In Ike manner only so far as we can forecast
! the probable condition of those who come after
| us, and attempt to estimate how much good we
may be the means of transmitting to them, viii
| we fully appreciate the value OF our own lives.
| and the rich possibilities of our day. We are
| allied TO our ancestors only so far as we make
| them contribute some good TO us. We are allied
to posterity only so far as We can contribute
| some good to them 1t seems to me then, that
| we can render no higher homage 10
TIE MEMORY OF OUR FATHERS
| Than to try as far as we can 10 baptize our
souls afresh in the spirit and meaning of that
great idea that has made us a nation, and dsirye
/ TO transmit the blessing unimpaired to those
who may come after us. 1t is not expected that
| | should attempt To lift the veil of time upon
| the sublime enthusiasm with which two mill
| ions OF people arose with one accord to assert
| their rights and followed their new-made flag
with mistaken confidence, under varying for
| tune until victory and peace crowned their
efforts. The story uf that struggle was the lesson
OF our school days. Neither will YOU expect me
| to drag from the grave Of great civil strife
| single thread of those garments stained in
! tratricldai blood. Let the dead past bury the
| dead. The sweet grass grows, and the dear
smile of God IN rain and sunshine falls upon
| those hundred battlefelds, mating the graves
OF those VINO fought ana fell in the great war
under one common sod, emblem of the healed
| wounds and hurts of our people.
| a national day is the one above all others in
| the year when the whole people can rise to a
| plane higher than party and broader than sec
tarlanisE and discuss some national theme for
the common good
SOME THOUGHTS ON AMERICAN PATRIOTISM,
And the duties it inspires would therefore seem
| lifting for the hour. What is patriotism? What
| is American patriotism, MS distinguished from
the patriotic sentiment that glows i'll the hearts
| of ali other people? Let us not confound it, as
is often done, with the instructive feeling that
attaches one to his native land
Providence has, for wise and beneficent rea-
sons, deeply implanted in the bosom Of every
child love for home, however lowly nd unat-
tractivc il may. he. 1t would rather live with its
own parents in woodshed, clad in rags and
plnched with hunger, than share the hospitality
OF stranger, as an orphan, though surrounded
by all the luxury and elegance of wealth. Akin
To this beautiful flial instinct is an Unborn at
| tachment to the land of ones birth, that geo
graphical locality we call our country. 1t is q
sentiment not begOtten of genial skies or fertile
acres. Men will cling to their native soil
though it be cold bleak and unpicturesuue
quite as passionately to the fairest spots upon
which an affiuent nature has lavished her
choicest blessings The hardy Swiss sees more
charm and poetry in his bleak mountain home
where the ice fields are his hnntng grounds,
and the frosty winds and sliding avalanches his
| daily music, than in your genial valley, where
| the grape and the orange grow. The Icelander
would grow homesick in the land where the
| magnolia blooms and the mahogany reddens
| in torrid heat, and pine for the stern winter
F., the stunted growths, and auroral lights of his
island home in the heart of Il northern sea.
THERE Is A BESEFIcENT PURPOSE
Enshrined in this beautiful feeling. 1t binds
one III strong, sweet fetters of love and memory
| to his native land but il is not patriotism in
! the full rich plentitude of that word Ii has
often been lauded as such, by political writers,
poets and orators; but it is mistaken idea
| The Modoc, who fought for his lava-bed, or the
Piute, who clings to his sage-brush has his feel
| ings. 1t is as strong in New leland cannibal
as in the heart of Roman citizen, in the palm
| lest days of that empire.
| What was it that fired the soul of Hampden
| Fmmet, Kosceuski. or Franklin? A blind in,
| stinct that elung to a tree, or burrowed in a
| rock? Was it for the granite hills of Massaehu-
| sets that Warren said at Bunker Hili "Put me
| where the battle is hottest Did Washington
draw his sword for the Blue Ridge and tobacco
| fields of Virginia. Was it for the palmetto
\ grove OF Carolina, that tNarion and Sumpter hid
| in the mosqutoswamps and fought the Tories?
Was it for the mere love of a strip of land that
| the New jersey preacher, when the army was
| took from the pulpit Watts Psalms and said,
There boys, put Watts into them.' No, no.
| The fire that burned into those heroes was
something deeper, neber, more intellectual and
| spiritual than the brute courage that stands
| sentinel over a bleak hill, or far savanna be-
cause 1t happens to be ones birthplace.
PATRIOTISM, Is A FIRE
That may catch and burn in the bosom of a
| man of foreign birth. Think you that Baron
| Dekalb, fighting and dying on the plains of
| Camden, or that Marquis de Lafayette, tender
| ing his sword, fortune, and honor TO the
! Colonial Congress, in the darkest hour of our
| revolutionary struggle, did not feel an enthu-
| siasm for our cause, akin to that which ami
mated the soul of Washington, Hancock or
| Adams?
! We remember during our unhappy civil strife
| thousands of our foreign population freely left
their fields, shops, offices, and homes, and vol
| unteered in our armies, and Wed with the ma
| tive born citizen i'll heroiSm and loyalty for our
| country. English, Scotch, Irish. aud German
blood mingled copiously ON hundred battle
| fields to uphold the integrity OF this Union.
| Men from the Hebrides, to the Rhine. who al
IDENTIFY loved their fatherland. and whose fond
| est memories cluDg TO The homes of their child
| hood, marched in our armies. stood guard to-
| gether in mud and rain, and in broken English
SHOUTED IN CHORUS AT THE GOOD FORTUNE OF
| OUR FLAG.
| Now, what does this mean? 1t means that
| patriotism is something more noble. magnani-
| nous and spiritual than mere instructive at
| tachment for ones native soil. True patriotism
| Is something more than mere fealty and allie
| glance to the Constitution and laws of the land
1t is inclusive of all that is meant by the word
loyalty" 1t is something deeper, and more
spiritual, than mere formal obedience to the
law II is contrary to the law to smuggle goods
| into the country but surely no one will under
take to say that the sentiment of patriotism has
| burned out of Il man 5 soul because he has been
cigass or Il trunk of lace into the country.
| Then on the other hand, u man may maintain
| a stric. outward proprefy towards the law give
no oiiense in word or deed; even go so far as
! to wear sentences of the Constitution as an
| amulet upon his garments. and yet at the same
| time in his secret heart smile approyingly upon
1 every faction that talks treason and plots con-
spiracy. The fact is, therel something more
| i'll loyalty than mere obedience TO the supreme
law Of the land; it is something that cannot be
| put on paper by Congressional enactment or
typed out in the letters of the Constitution.
1t is something deeper than all pen and ink can
legislate. 1t is deeper than the Constitution,
for it is the spirit that made the Constitution
and continues to give to it all the vitality it
possesses. Loyalty, or true patriotism, is not
thing of definitions i'll a law-book il isl
| FERvID DEVOTION TO THE WELFARE oF THE
| COUNTRY
That transeends all legal requirements For
instance, there is nothing in the Constitution or
statute law that requires a man to give his
money to a Sanitary or Christian Commission
| or nderhearted women TO fly to the camp
or hospital, TO risk life and health in order 10
minister to the wants of the sick and dying.
There is no law that requires Il man to carry
| the ma ion upon his heart when at prayer and
| to rise above all sordid and partisan feeling in
the hour of peril. We're the tocsin of war
sounded through the land to-day, were for
eign foe TO invade our shore. or insurreetion TO
lit up the torch of anarchy in our midst, mill
ions of free men, from the North and the
South, the East and the West, would rush from
the piow, shop and Office at their country's call
| to the battle front, singing as they come: rRnIly
round the flag, boys. rally once again. What
then Is the inspiration OF this feeling? The law
of the land requires none of these things The
| spirit of patriotism does require them an
Patriotism, then, is something more than mere